Judith Clark, convicted in 1981 Brink's robbery, granted parole

ALBANY — Judith Clark will be paroled after serving decades behind bars for her role in a 1981 armored truck robbery that left two police officers and a security guard dead.

Clark, 69, would not have been eligible for parole for many more years. But Gov. Andrew Cuomo partially commuted her sentence in late 2016 after reviewing her case and personally meeting with her at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester. Clark was denied parole in 2017.

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Clark’s possible release has become a political issue, with Republicans and a number of law enforcement groups demanding that she continue to be incarcerated for her participation in the crime. Criminal justice reformers, on the other hand, have argued that she has become an exemplar of rehabilitation.

Clark, who was originally sentenced to 75 years to life, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees while in prison and began teaching educational programs to other inmates, as well as starting an initiative to combat HIV/AIDS and another to help train service dogs while behind bars. Cuomo, in a release explaining his 2016 commutation, said she had “made exceptional strides in self-development” and deserved the opportunity to have the parole board hear her case.

Clark’s case continues to draw vehement opposition in Rockland County, where the robbery occurred. A member of the Weather Underground, Clark was the getaway driver for two suspects who engaged in a gun battle with the two officers who were killed.

"This perversion of justice is a sad continuation of the deadly assault on police officers happening across our Nation and signals to the criminal element that it is open season on cops," said Rockland County Executive Ed Day, a former NYPD officer. "The parole board and the elected officials responsible for allowing this domestic terrorist to walk free should be ashamed."

Clark publicly apologized in 2002 for the crime, writing in a letter published in the Journal News that she felt “shame and remorse” that her “inability to tolerate ambiguity and face responsibility led to my participation in the death and destruction of Oct. 20, 1981.”